This Isn't A Meet Cute Romance
by CharlieBrush
Summary: It's been nearly a decade, Rory and Jess should be able to meet amicably and without any drama, right? Wrong. This time it's his writing getting him in trouble and they both have a wedding to go to. Literati. JavaJunkie. Little fluffy, little smutty. -ON HIATUS-
1. Chapter 1

This Isn't A Meet Cute Romance

* * *

"Muffin? They're fresh! I just went out."

Rory looks up at the plate pushed in front of her and hungrily grabs for the Chocolate studded option.

"Thanks!" She chirps, stuffing a large mouthful quickly into her mouth.

 _You glorious, wonderful, baked goods laden goddess of a boss._ She hadn't meant to work straight through lunch, but she's trying to catch up on work before she leaves later that evening.

"You're my favourite, Karen." She mumbles, mouth still full.

"Yeah right Rory, 'cute guy' at the coffee cart downstairs is your favourite person." Karen scoffs.

Rory mockingly raises an eyebrow sceptically as her mouth is still full.

"He's adorable." Karen continues, perching on the end of Rory's paper packed desk. "That whole tall, dark and handsome vibe – plus he's the man with the Java. I know you dig it."

 _Lets not talk about those mocha eyes…_ Rory thinks to herself, sassily.

"Okay. Kar, You're my second favourite then. For sure." She smiles. This isn't a lie; Karen is the most patient senior editor she's ever worked under. A mother figure for the whole office.

"Better be." Karen laughs and gets up, slipping off her high heels as she does so. She starts padding her way over to her office, suddenly 6 inches shorter, before turning back and calling over. "You flying out tonight, right? Heading home? Come by my office before you go, I've got a couple of things for you."

Rory rolls her eyes. After telling a couple of her co-workers about Star's Hollow, Karen had decided that idyllic sounding a holiday was perfect. She'd hit it off so well with Lorelai every time Rory went home she was laden with gifts for her. "Got it, Chief. I'm just writing the handover notes for Charlotte for the week I'm gone."

The rest of the afternoon is a blur of editing her own small section of the paper, all the emails, rewrites and notes takes her well into the late afternoon before Rory realises. Quickly throwing on her coat and stuffing scarves and gloves into her bag she walks over to Karen's office. She needs to get home and pick up her suitcase then head straight to the airport she's worked so late.

"You all done, hon?" Rory walks in and sees Karen perched up at her desk, feet put up casually and glasses haphazardly propped up on her head. A large pile of books and papers is stacked up in front of her.

"Mmmhmm, handed every last thing in, right…" Rory brandishes her phone and clicks 'Send' on one last email with a flourish. "Now"

"Good. Enjoy the freedom while it lasts!" Karen ushers her over and reaches under her desk pulling out a large box of exquisitely wrapped gifts. Old fashioned white lace paper and cord bows.

"These are for the happy couple. Give Luke and Lorelai my love again will ya? That room she put me in that time I visited." She whistles. "It was ah-may-zing, oh my god. And.. and tell Luke I said his Diner was amazing too! That coffee? I can see why you're addicted!"

Rory laughs wholeheartedly. "Don't worry Kar, they'll remember when you told them all this when you were there." She slings her handbag over her shoulder and groans under the weight of the box. "So, are you going to let me leave?' Or going to go through the town census listing everyone you want me to send your regards?"

Karen huffs. "Okay, okay fine. Have fun!"

Rory waves under the weight and is one foot out the door before she hears Karen calling her back inside.

"What is it? Want to jump in my suitcase? I'm sure if I skip out shoes you'd squeeze in. Well maybe not just shoes. Shoes and pants…. shoes and dresses…maybe shoes and jackets?"

"Very funny. Your outfits can stay intact, you'll need them. It's your job to have scandalous sex with at least one of the groomsmen." Karen beams, a satisfied smile on her lips.

"Eurgh! Jeez"

"Anyway, anyway! Take this." Karen hands over a chunky paperback she also pulls from the top drawer, balancing it on the pile of gifts in Rory's arms. "I got it from Jenny in Film and TV. She was ranting about it yesterday and I thought you'd like it, some fluffy chick lit for your flight now you don't have any more correspondence emails to check."

Rory hesitates. "Thanks, but I'm not sure it's my thi-"

"Oh give it a go! You don't have to ready Tolstoy every day." Karen pouts. "They're turning it into a miniseries, which is why Jen was reading up on it first."

"Uh huh." Rory picks it up and mulls it over. _The Snowstorm Girl_ , the front cover reads.

"Juicy stuff apparently, small town romance, saucy love triangle, a love square even! Bunch of hilarious minor characters, some fast paced dialogue. Sounds right up your street!" Karen grins, "I had a flick through it over lunch."

"Okay, okay." Rory sighs, piling it back into the package. "I'll give it a look over! Bye, crazy lady!"

::::::::

" **It was a bright, cold day in October, but somehow the snow fell thick. Leigh was named after her father, her mother left her with the name and that was pretty much all."**

Rory smirks.

 _I kind of know how that feels. Nice name though_.  
Her middle name is Leigh. It's childish but a part of her enjoys when she shares something with the character, it puts her a little more into the story.

She's sat curled up under a thick blanket on her quick evening flight, she'd been restless and ran out of reading through the airplane magazines. Suddenly remembering the paperback she'd hurriedly stuffed into her bag when she zipped through home.

" **Leigh is bright, fiercely intelligent bright, but you wouldn't know that unless you spoke to her. You first notice her eyes, colourless glassy blue, if eyes could tell a story these would hold your attention for days. Light brown curls frame the rest of her fragile doll like face. It's almost ageless, beautiful."**

She almost snorts to herself _. God this is a bit cheesy. Gorgeous, intelligent Heroine. Let's see what the first' Romeo' is like…_ She uncharacteristically flicks forward a few pages.

" **Dan was the perfect boyfriend; he was nice enough. Dan the high school jock. Dan who loved the Chicago Cubs and fixing cars. Dan though was dull, and he'd probably never get her "Ginsberg" references. Dan never had a chance. Dan was no Jack."**

She raises and eyebrow and flicks forward a couple more pages.

" **Jack is arrogant, fierce, the angry asshole kind of fierce. That makes him a terrible boyfeind, but a tempting one none the less."**

 _Oh my god…_ She shakes her head and pushes her hair back nervously. _Don't worry, it's nothing. Let's try here._ Picking a random page in the middle of the book she turns the pages over, and feels the blood slowly drain from her face.

" **He glances down at her, her hair hangs in damp tendrils over her cheekbones. She looks worried, he wants nothing more than to stay and brush that hair from her face, but he turns the sprinklers back on and walks away. She looks like doesn't want him to go either, but it is what it is. "**

 _Calm down, Rory, it's totally narcissistic to even think that this could be…._ One more random flick to a couple of pages ahead.

" **I can't catch my breath." She whispers almost into his ear; he continues nibbling into her neck, kissing down her face. It's all smooth, glorious, his. "You're not supposed to. "he smirks.**

Turning it over in her hands she touches her fingers gently over the spine, 'Marianne J Ernest' the curly lettering runs under her fingers. She turns to the biography at the end. There's no author portrait, only a short biography.

" **Marianne J. Ernest was born and grew up in New York. The Snowstorm Girl, her first book has been shortlisted for multiple awards and is published in many languages around the world. She now lives in Idaho, where she works as an editor, with her husband Lowell, and her two dogs – Dogder and Will. The sequel, Tempest Woman is due next Spring."**

She slams down the book, it shakes the chair in front of her but the passenger is luckily fast asleep.

"That. Bastard." She's quietly furious.

 _Jess, you bastard._

* * *

 _I drum my fingers on the wheel, filled with nervous energy that's impossible to tap away. The road stretches long out far as we can see, feeling the crunch of the thick snow as we trundle along makes me wish we could get there a little faster._

 _Certainly never crashing another car with you in it though, that's for damn sure. Lorelai would definitely murder me. Hell everyone we know would murder me. Town vs. Jess. Bloodbath._

" _Can't believe we're doing this" I think out loud._

 _You reach for my hand, and clasp your small one over it, stopping my fidgeting._

 _You think for a moment before you answer though and it drives me crazy. Your eyebrows knit together like you're putting together a puzzle. I've never felt so nervous. If you pull out of this… That's it, I'm a broken man, done for. Finished._

 _A smile pulls at the corner of your lips and you simply say "It is what is is. Us. This is us." With a nonchalant shrug… and was that a wink?_

 _You tease. You steal my words and my shrug and you tease me with them._

 _I want to pull over right now and start by kissing you again like there is no tomorrow. But there is a tomorrow and something tells me it might just be the best day of my life._


	2. Chapter 2

This Isn't A Meet Cute Romance

* * *

Lorelai Gilmore sits restlessly, she shifts her half full coffee cup in between both hands and twists it nervously in circles on the table. The lukewarm liquid whirls, spiralling upwards, spilling slightly over the edge then falling level again, repeatedly. They've been sitting in the Arrivals section of the airport for over half an hour and she can't contain her enthusiasm, she turns around to stare at the entrance every minute without fail.

"Lorelai, Put down the cup." Luke Danes sits across from her and places a hand, lovingly on her arm.

"I can't. I'm excited. My baby is coming home!" Lorelai bobs up and down in her seat as she says it, it's been nearly 6 months since Rory was in Star's Hollow. For any other family this is probably a completely respectable amount of time, but for Lorelai this is too much. She sneaks another look at the big arrivals door.

Luke sighs. "Yes but she's not coming in for another hour. So you can stop with all the mixing and the spilling." He looks at her exasperatedly, and dabs a napkin at the spills on the table. She shoots him a look that says ' _This isn't the diner, honey'_ but he just shrugs.

"Urgh why are we here this early then?!" Lorelai pouts.

" _You_ dragged _me_ out here this early." Luke cocks his head and looks confused, exasperatedly confused. "It was all I could to stop you from bringing a Thermos and your sheets and camping here last night!"

"Puh-lease. You of all people know when I do something, I do it properly. I'd have packed up that air mattress and made a bed fort right over …There!"

She points and motions so loudly the poor man sitting in the collection of coffee shop sofas across from them gives a scared look. Luke waves him off with a smile and shoots Lorelai a look. She doesn't notice.

"… with all the pillows from my couch, right? And hot chocolates with little marshmallows and the can whipped cream. Well I mean that's the only whipped cream really. Don't tell Sookie I said that though, I'm sure all that crème patisserie is worth all the effort she goes to…"

The same sardonic look is still on Luke's face, eyebrow raised. "I'm rambling aren't I?"

"Yup." Luke is still at times the master of succinct. _It must be a family thing for sure,_ Lorelai thinks to herself sarcastically, but he doesn't need the words when he lays his hand over hers and rubs his thumb over the back of her hand. It calms her as he traces little circles.

She nods. "Yup." In agreement.

"Speaking of airbed." Luke starts hesitantly, his other hand nervously rubs the back of his neck. "You're sure it's okay Jess is on it downstairs? I said Liz and T.J. and Doula could have the privacy of the diner apartment to themselves but then I forgot that I'd be sleeping on the couch…" he trails off and shrugs again.

"Because we're sleeping separately and not seeing each other from the wedding day eve!" Lorelai perks up, interjecting and saving him from the awkward silence he'd walked himself into. "I never knew you'd be such a stickler for tradition." She teases, smirking mercilessly. It makes her happy they've been living together, _and everything that comes with that_ , for over a decade pretty much but Luke is insisting on some old fashioned wedding customs. There's a real softie under that gruff plaid coating.

"Exactly. But it's okay?" he looks nervously.

"It's …okay." Lorelai reassures, but can't stop herself from sounding hesitant at the end.

"It's… okay?" she feels mean that somehow he looks even more nervous, and Luke isn't really ever one to emote.

"Yeah, it's okay." She tries to loosen the tension suddenly building up in her shoulders and smile at him. "In my head she's still 12, but my baby is closer to 30 than 20 and everyone else is _pretty much_ an adult as well. So it'll all be okay."

"Good." He kisses her hand and lets go of it, starting to stand up and collect up the coffee cups.

"You promise me it'll be okay, right?" she looks up, a thin glimmer of nerves showing through about the whole thing. Not just the Jess thing, the wedding thing, but Luke seems to understand that too.

"I promise." He kisses the top of her head before starting to walk over to the counter. "Now get back to surveillance on the arrivals. I'll get us some fresh coffees."

"No decaff!" Lorelai shouts after him.

::::::::

The angry outburst from the plane has long since dulled and Rory is happily staring out of the window on the drive back to Star's Hollow. Catching sights and road signs familiar from her rides to and from Yale, or even farther back to school bus trips, are comforting, nostalgic. Lorelai had graciously offered up her spot riding shotgun, but Rory knows this is just so she can sit in the back and rattle the box of wedding gifts from Karen.

She's awoken from the reverie though when she hears a groaning sound from Luke beside her and the sound of a loud power ballad on the car stereo. "Seriously guys, what is this?" she laughs.

"Oh this?" Luke gestures behind him. " _Your mother_ is torturing me with a mixtape of 'first dance' suggestions. They're all terrible. The last three have been Steve Perry." He shudders. "She knows I'm getting 80's Journey flashbacks all over again."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Fiancé? How dare you slander 'THE Voice?!" Lorelai calls out over the sound of the rustling of the package she's playing with in her hands.

"I agree Luke, like Mom would do anything to torture you on purpose." Rory stifles her laughter momentarily. "What's the next one?" she clicks the button on the dashboard.

The opening bars of slow piano have Luke immediately groaning and Rory looks questioningly back at Lorelai, who is now miming playing a giant keyboard behind them, waving her head around eyes shut miming like she's singing her heart out.

"Open Arms… Journey." Luke huffs, shaking his head at his Fiancée's antics in the back seat.

Leaning forward Lorelai props up her head on her hands and looks in between them, switching between grinning at Rory and completely straight faced at Luke. "I'm actually totally serious with this one."

"Uh huh?" Luke says it like it's a grouchy question.

"No, no listen!" Lorelai bats as the back of his baseball cap, then proceeds to sing along loudly. "' _We sailed on together, we drifted apart, and here you are by my side_.'"

"Sounds pretty depressing to me!" he quips.

"No, its sweet! Its love reunited! ' _Hoping you'll see what your love means to me, Open Aaaaaaarms_!"

"I think I'm gonna barf over here, Mom" Rory laughs. She feels better already and she's not even home yet, the easy banter between the three of them makes her feel like time hasn't passed at all.

"I'm being serious, we're the on again off again kings, but now this is it, this is cereal love! You're marrying me!" Lorelai protests.

There is a long pause as Luke looks away from the road long enough to give Lorelai a seriously disgusted look, eyebrow cocked in contempt.

"What d'ya think, Kiddo? Open Arms?" Lorelai turns back to Rory. "You gotta side with me?"

"I think you were crazy judging Sookie for the Nina Simone. Let's talk to Lane tomorrow." Rory decides quickly, tossing a look over at Luke.

Luke looks beyond appreciative. "Please!'

"Ooh, ooh, ooh" Lorelai excitedly jumps up and down. "I've just had a thought! What about Adele?!" Luke stops at the stop light and slumps his head down to the wheel. Rory swears she hears a muffled "Oh God."

::::::::

"Hey before you go in, I gotta check something with you."

Luke starts carrying in the present box and has a large backpack of Rory's slung over his shoulder too, leaving the girls with little more to carry than handbags. Lorelai hugs into Rory before she continues talking and gives her a possessive squeeze. Rory smiles, this is her Mom's favourite part, the part where she's arriving at home for the holiday, or visit, in this case. There's an apprehensive look on her face though as she continues.

"Your ummm step-cousin is staying here tonight too, driving in later. There was _literally_ a kind of no room at the inn situation. A last minute thing, that's cool right? You guys are okay?"

"My step cousin… Jess, you mean?" Rory feels her nose wrinkle up without even trying. _Stay cool, just stay cool._

"No, no, - Yes!" Lorelai continues, ushering her up the front stairs. "Of course Jess, you have no funky history with Doula. I mean she's probably at some maddening, question everything, persistent ten-year-old phase if she's anything like you were - at that age - but- "

They open the door that had closed shut behind Luke and are briefly met with the sound scuffles and a fluffy missile of fur launching at Rory's haunches. Paul Anka wastes no time in pawing at her legs persistently until she pets at his head.

"Hey there bud" she murmurs giving his grey ears a scratch, before remembering what they'd just been saying.

"And! - Hey! I resent that but It's fine." Rory sighs and nervously pinches at her nose. She wasn't intending on talking to Jess so soon, she's not really formulated anything that she'd even try to say to him.

"We've not seen each other for a long time, but…I'm sure we'll find something to talk about. Don't worry, Mom." She hopes Lorelai doesn't spot the worry in her face and the grimace she feels coming on.

"The price of gas these days. Inflation. Whether Paul Anka here needs a haircut." Lorelai offers closing the door behind them.

"What?" Rory replies, perplexed. She must be distracted, usually the quick fire quips from her mother are lost on everyone but her.

"Things you two can talk about? You okay, hon?" Lorelai starts pulling her coat and layers off and sticking them by the front door.

"Oh sure, I'm just gonna go for a shower, okay? I'm all gross from all these warm clothes I've layered on, and you know … _Plane Hair_!" Lorelai nods and ushers her, half pushing her over to the bathroom door funnily, as she's not even got her bag with all her stuff in it.

"Oh yes, Amen to that. Go! Wash, my child, banish the plane hair. When you get out I'll reheat some of Luke's food we saved, kay?"

Locking the door behind her Rory chuckles. _Twenty minutes at least of peace and hot water are exactly what I need to clear my head maybe. Lets see what fresh clothes I stuffed into my carry on bag._

::::::::

"Ehrr… Hey."

Rory looks up, she's wrestling a dressing gown from Paul Anka and dripping all over the floor. Hopping straight into the shower was a bad idea, all the clothes she had stuffed in her smaller bag as she zipped though her apartment had been some humorous elmo pyjama shorts (she thought her Mom would find them funny) and the silk slip for wearing underneath her bridesmaid's dress. She was sure they made for a hilarious combination, cheeks flushing red.

Pulling open the shower curtain she'd found the Houdini dog had somehow ended up inside, door mercifully mostly shut, and was happily chewing on the fluffy dressing gown her mother kept hanging behind the door and pawing through her bag. She'd thankfully heard two sets of voices upstairs so had quickly thrown on the clothes and started wrestling the furry menace into the hall. Running straight into Jess. He'd just let himself in it looked like, satchel hitched over his shoulder and a big duffel bag in his hands.

He looks just the same but much different somehow too, the wavy dark hair is a little longer, falling along the hood of his jacket and grazing his chin. Rory resists this strange strong urge to run a hand through it. His jaw is flecked with scruffy stubble that's more pronounced than she's ever seen it too. He looks older, gruffer maybe. Like twenty-one-year-old Jess took a trek in the wilderness and came out tougher.

"Hey" she realises didn't reply for what seemed like an age as she looked him over.

"You want this?" he reaches into the duffel and yanks out a grey hoodie, pitching it over to her.

Catching it roughly Rory is still a little stunned. It's a kind gesture for a soggy sesame street clad woman and it leeches away a lot of the anger she was hoping to maybe confront him with. Or well might have done, if she'd even worked out what to say.

All she does say is "I … Okay."

"No problem." He half smiles a crooked smile and nonchalantly walks over and takes the gown out of Anka's mouth. "You don't wanna wear this. It's kinda covered in drool now." She lets go and he dunks it in the nearby wash basket. _How is he this... cool?!_

"Can we talk for a sec-" she sees him stop as he looks behind her. Turning they both register at the same time that he's looking at the book poking out of her bag.

* * *

 _There's a loud click as the door closes behind us and suddenly we're alone again, in a room, not a car._

 _I'm exhausted, you're exhausted. We just drove most of the night and the dawn is peaking through the windows. I put down the bags and you put the room keys down on the table and suddenly here we stand, staring at our shoes._

 _You're wearing tatty sneakers peaking out from under_ _ **that**_ _dress. It makes me remember that 'that dress' is under the hoodie and my jacket._

 _I half crack a smile and you swat me on the arm when you see exactly what I'm smiling at. "I needed them for driving!"_

 _Your hand hasn't left my arm yet. It slides down and you interlace your fingers with mine, I grab your other hand, so here we are just holding hands. Alone, in a room. I feel like I'm 18 again, trying to sneak a proper first kiss with you above the diner._

 _Only this time you're not nervously biting your lip and looking at the floor a foot away from me, you're stepping closer, you're looking up at me with all the same bravado from the car ride and this kind of lustful look._

 _There it is again, you look up and you bat your long lashes at me and its definitely desire in those big blue eyes. I close the gap and suddenly your hands are on my neck and in my hair and it's me who can't breathe because you're kissing me with more insistence than I have ever felt from you._

 _The jacket ends up on the floor, and my sweater on a chair, and my hands are sliding up your legs as you kick off those shoes. You're pulling off the hood hurriedly over your shoulders and I'm helping you, my fingers get tangled in the flowers that are still pinned in your hair and you're giggling._

 _Your laughter is infectious, it makes me smile, properly this time. We pause and it's hilarious, this tangle of limbs and flowers, and outer layers strewn all over the room. You're half flopped on top of me, kind of straddling me actually and my hands drift to your hips. I place them down firmly and look up at you._

" _So…" You look back at me. You're spectacular. Do you even realise how amazing you look? How mind blowing this feels?_

" _So…" You reply questioningly. "We take a breather?" you suggest, somewhat warily._

" _We're not short on time." I lean up and tuck your hair behind your ear, it's a stunning mess compared to the moment we walked in the door. "We get a little rest, we get ready and I take you out for breakfast before we stick with the plan, sound good?"_

" _Mmmm, what kind of breakfast?" You lean down and run your nose down mine, grinning impishly._

" _Oh, Miss Gilmore! How did I not know that the food would be your first question?" I pat a spot on the bed next to me and you reluctantly get off me and snuggle in under my arm instead quickly. "Pancakes?" I offer._

" _Tell me more. What kind of pancakes?" You drape your arm over my chest._

" _Eurgh, what do you think? You've spent to much time in Europe. Thick American Pancakes! Maple syrup, Bacon!"_

 _You wrinkle your nose at me and it's adorable. I wish that you'd stop being this sexy, adorable, cruel woman while we're trying to show some restraint. You're driving me crazy._

 _Grudgingly I get up and walk over to our stuff, I pull out a big pair of sweatpants and a clean gym shirt and throw them over to you. You look at me questioningly and I motion to the bathroom, "Please. Do me a favour put them on, none of this silky slip business, I'm already going insane over here and it's been about 30 seconds since we were..."_

" _Okay, okay. I'm going, I'm going!" You huff at me, jokingly waggling a finger. "I expect you to at least have a shirt on!"_

 _You close the door and I let out a huge sigh. I secretly hope you'll never stop driving me this crazy._


End file.
